He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I congratulate him. If you think back, for far too many years what's happened is the elite have all said 'it's terrible to talk about immigration - if you do you're racist'.

"So they shut down the debate for many many years.

"I can even remember back in the time when Tony Blair was Prime Minister, to even mention immigration was to be accused of being a racist.

"That accusation probably silenced legitimate discussion. If you do that, what happens is you push the debate to the margins."